


you can see it with the lights out (you are in love)

by taoslefteyelid



Category: EXO (Band), Z.Tao (Musician)
Genre: M/M, bc will the chankai stans like me???, i hope you have an amazing day i love you, i wish i could've added in more chankai but im still nervous with handling them, so here have some soft taohun sdfjkshfj, yells alu i love you!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22907494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taoslefteyelid/pseuds/taoslefteyelid
Summary: Sehun gets bored of a lot of things, but not Zitao. Never Zitao.
Relationships: Huang Zi Tao | Z.Tao/Oh Sehun, Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	you can see it with the lights out (you are in love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MlNMOONGlE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MlNMOONGlE/gifts).



> HELLO it's Alu's birthday!  
> Obviously the only way i can express my love and adoration is through taohun so. Here. I love you Alu I hope you have an amazing birthday you deserve all the good things and I'm so happy i know you. I hope you like this!!! Happy birthday!!!

“What would you do if I asked you to take me somewhere nice?”, Sehun asks. 

They’re sitting together on a blanket Zitao has had in his car for three years. It’s just the two of them, accompanied by a bottle of wine and a block of cheese. 

( _ “Couldn’t find a cheese platter,” Zitao had said. “Thought this was the next best thing.” _

_ “You’re an idiot.”) _

Zitao takes a careful swig of wine from the bottle. 

“I’d ask you if you didn’t think that this was nice enough.” 

“And if I said I didn’t?” 

Sehun stretches his legs out, grabbing the bottle from Zitao. Zitao looks at him, and if it was day, Sehun’s skin would prickle, but right now, it’s just them and the moon, and Sehun relaxes under Zitao’s gaze. 

Zitao waits for him to take a swig before he answers. 

“Then I’d take you wherever you wanted to go.” 

Sehun laughs, and looks up at the sky, at the moon. It’s then that he decides, that he is irrevocably in love with Huang Zitao. 

It’s strange. They’re not even dating, though their relationship has always been more on the ambiguous side. But there’s no reasoning with Sehun once he’s made a decision on matters of love, so there he is, on a blanket with wine, in love with Zitao. 

“I want to go to the beach,” Sehun says. Not really, but it’s the first place he can think of, and he wants Zitao to take him somewhere. The air is balmy against his skin, and he wants Zitao to whisk him away, so he takes another sip of wine, and looks over to Zitao. 

Zitao considers him for a second. 

“Okay.” 

Just like that.

\---

The beach is a night’s drive away, including the time it takes for both of them to stop by their apartment and hurriedly pack. 

Sehun lights a cigarette for Zitao and takes a drag of it before placing it in Zitao’s mouth, as Zitao drives them to the beach. Just because Sehun asked. 

There’s a quiet thrum under Sehun’s fingers, the thrum that comes with deciding you’re in love after months, even years of feeling it, the thrum that comes with spontaneity and driving to the beach at 3 am.

Sehun periodically breaks off chunks of the block of cheese and feeds them to Zitao. They don’t really have much else to eat, so this’ll have to do. 

He takes the liberty to fuck around with the music for a while, before leaning back to attempt to take a nap. Zitao lets him.

Zitao always lets him.

\---

They find a place to stay by the beach, in one of those tiny temporary shacks that you can rent for a bit. It’s almost 7 am, and they’re both dead tired. Zitao’s carrying both his and Sehun’s backpacks, which Sehun appreciates.

“There’s only one bed,” the guy they’re renting out from tells them worriedly. Sehun briefly registers Zitao mumbling something about not worrying about it, but he’s already making a beeline for the bedroom. 

By all accounts, Zitao should be more tired than Sehun. He’s the one who drove the whole way, but Sehun is slightly drunk (he kept sipping on that wine) and unable to fall asleep in cars, so he allows himself to collapse on the bed. 

He’s half asleep when he feels Zitao’s gentle hand in his hair, before the covers are being pulled up over him. It seems that even away from the moon, Sehun is in love with Huang Zitao.

\---

Sehun wakes up to an airy room and the sounds of the sea, and Zitao on the bed near him. For a second, he’s massively confused. The ceiling is different from the one back in his bedroom. Lower, and if he stretched too far while standing, his hand would touch it. 

It rushes back as Sehun’s eyes fix on a particularly interesting spot on the ceiling. There’s a particular warmth that fills him, as he looks at Zitao by his side. 

It’s strange, how one sentence can tip everything on its axis. 

Sehun reaches out to put his hand on Zitao’s face, to maybe recreate a moment from an indie film or something, where he traces out Zitao’s eyebrows, and his nose, and his lips, and then withdraws, softly longing. That’s not how real life works though. In real life, Zitao stirs the second Sehun’s skin touches his. 

“Hi,” Sehun tells him, playing it cool, because this is not an indie movie, and Sehun isn’t going to become a mess because of a late night realisation. 

“Hi,” Zitao mumbles in response, out of habit. Sehun watches as he actually opens his eyes, watches as Zitao realises that he isn’t in his room and Sehun is in his bed. Zitao doesn’t seem too put off, though. 

“Where am I?”, he says, and he sounds so sleepy that Sehun wants to tuck him in and make him take a nap. 

Sehun leans in closer. 

“We’re at the beach. You drove us here, remember?” 

Zitao hums non-committedly. 

Sehun’s hand makes its way back to Zitao’s face. 

“Go back to sleep.” 

“You go back to sleep”, Zitao mutters, but he’s leaning into Sehun’s hand, and his eyes are closing again.

Sehun loves him. 

\---

It takes Sehun a second to register Zitao sitting down on the sand near him. The little shack they’re living in is connected to a beachfront restaurant, and Sehun’s found the perfect place to sit in the shade of said restaurant. 

“Remind me how far away from home we are?”, Zitao asks, as Sehun turns to look at him. 

Sehun beams at him, before ignoring his question completely. 

“Good morning,” he says instead, knowing full well it’s 5 in the evening. “Glad to see you back in the land of the living.” 

Zitao looks at him, as if he wants to be affronted, but can’t be. 

“I drove you all the way here, just to be bullied?” 

Sehun rolls his eyes. 

“Stop being a baby,” he starts, before Zitao has the audacity to  _ laugh _ at him. 

“I’m the baby?”

“Yeah,” Sehun says, his lips turning down in mock irritation. “There’s a difference between being  _ a  _ baby and  _ being baby _ . You’re the former, I’m the latter, we are not the same.” 

Zitao regards Sehun for a second. 

“I’m deleting your twitter,” he decides, as a particularly large wave crashes against the sand.

Sehun flips him off.

\---

Something has to give, Sehun decides, just as he’d decided that he’s in love with Zitao. He’s sitting in the restaurant that’s connected to the little hut they’re in, sipping coffee, waiting for Zitao to come back from his shower. 

It’s around seven in the evening now, and Sehun’s feeling relaxed after the long warm shower he took (Zitao prefers taking showers with cold water anyways). Zitao had dunked him in the ocean, so Sehun was happy to wash the salt out of his hair first. 

But yes, something has to give. He’s not going to pine for Zitao like he’s the protagonist of a long winding fanfic that deals heavily with running away. Sehun  _ wants _ , and he’s not afraid of wanting.

(Besides, he’s not an oblivious idiot. He’s pretty sure Zitao wants too.) 

“This seat taken?”, asks an unfamiliar voice. Sehun looks up. 

The man is tall, and his hair is shocking red. It reminds Sehun of that phase Zitao had where he’d only wear hipster clothes.

“Not for the next 15 minutes, no,” Sehun replies, setting his coffee down. 

“Good,” the man says. “I just need to tie my shoelaces.” 

Sehun watches as the man sits down. 

“So,” he says as he ties his shoelaces. “You staying in one of the places here?”

“Yeah,” Sehun coughs out. 

“Any plans for tonight?”

“Uh, not really. This was all sort of spur of the moment, we didn’t make any plans.” 

The man grins. 

“Well, in that case, you should stick around here for the night. I hear they have live music or something tonight.”

Sehun really didn’t have any plans to go anywhere else, and he doesn’t think Zitao does either, but he still pretends to think about it. 

“Sure,” he says. “Sounds cool. Might as well.” 

The man beams, before he stands, shoelace successfully wrangled. 

“Thanks for letting me use your chair,” he says, before he waves. 

Sehun waves back, and returns to his coffee. 

\---

“I am being  _ assaulted _ ,” Sehun announces, “by all these fucking mosquitoes.” 

“I’m convinced you’re making this up, because not a single mosquito has bit me,” Zitao says, his skin looking like it’s gold in the last few minutes of the sun. 

“That’s because I’m a mosquito magnet for some fucking reason,” Sehun huffs. “Guess my blood is tastier than yours.” 

Zitao hums. 

“If I was a vampire I’d drink your blood just to see what the fuss is all about.” 

Sehun drinks the last remaining dregs of his coffee. 

“O positive, baby,” he says, before standing. “I’m going to get some mosquito repellant from the room. Don’t drink anyone else’s blood.” 

“No promises!”, Zitao yells after Sehun. 

Sehun turns back to roll his eyes. 

\---

Sehun’s skin is slightly sticky because of how much mosquito repellant he’s slathered over himself, but it’s a small price to pay. If he’s going to get the blood sucked out of him, it’d better be in a sexy way. 

As he walks, he can hear the telltale sound of feedback from a mic. They must be setting up the live music that guy was talking about. 

And who does Sehun see when he walks into the restaurant area, but said guy himself, bright red hair and all, holding a guitar. 

“I hear they have live music, huh?”, Sehun asks. 

The man turns to look at him, and smiles sheepishly. 

“Self promo doesn’t usually go off well.” 

Sehun laughs. 

“I will be critiquing you very harshly,” he says, pausing to look at the chalkboard that’s excitedly announcing the performer’s name. “Chanyeol.” 

“Oh no,” Chanyeol says, deadpan. “Whatever will I do?” 

Sehuun shrugs. 

“It is what it is.” 

“Fine,” Chanyeol laughs. “First song is your choice. In exchange, you can keep your scathing reviews to yourself.”

Sehun laughs. “Just play whatever you want,” he says. “I’ll rate you based on music choice.”

“Deal,” Chanyeol says, before turning to his guitar. 

Sehun rolls his eyes and turns away, before stopping in his tracks. 

Someone else is sitting in his seat. 

There Zitao is, sitting where Sehun left him, except now, someone has taken his place across the table. An attractive someone, Sehun notes with a huff. 

There’s a flare of jealousy, a want to throw a hissy fit and shuffle off to their room and make Zitao sleep on the floor, but Sehun isn’t that irrational. Instead, he does what any sane person would do upon seeing the person they’re kinda sorta in love with having a completely normal conversation with someone else. 

He strides over and sprawls over Zitao’s lap. 

It seems, even to Sehun, that Zitao doesn’t hesitate for even a second before he’s wrapping his arms around Sehun’s waist when he realises who’s suddenly on his lap, and smiling up at him. Like it’s normal. Like Sehun belongs there. 

“Hey,” Zitao breathes out, and he’s looking so adoringly at Sehun that Sehun’s entire being softens, warming up till he barely feels solid anymore, letting Zitao tether him to existence.

“Hi,” Sehun says, soft, quiet. He wants to tell Zitao now, tell him he loves him, let it slip out, messy, unprepared, but they’re not alone. Sehun clears his throat. “Who’s this?”, he asks motioning to the newcomer, who smiles at him. Sehun smiles back.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Zitao says, finally tearing his eyes away from Sehun. “Jongin, this is Sehun. Hun-ah, this is Jongin. He’s sitting here because he spilled water all over his table, and they’re understaffed today, so clean up is taking some time.”

“Ah,” Sehun says, nodding in understanding. “Are you staying in any of the tiny houses they have connected to this place?”, he asks. 

Jongin laughs, and shakes his head. 

“No, I’m just here to watch my boyfriend play.” 

Sehun’s eyes widen a bit at that, and he turns his head slightly to look at Chanyeol, who waves at them. Jongin blows him a kiss and Chanyeol pretends to catch it. 

“Looks like you already know each other,” Jongin remarks, turning back. 

Sehun shrugs.

“We’ve been acquainted by some shoelace related incidents,” Sehun explains. Jongin smiles, and moves as if to reply, before one of the workers comes up to him. 

“Ah, my table is ready,” Jongin tells them. “Thank you for having me, it was very generous of you. I’ll see you both around, yeah? Chanyeol will be playing this whole week.” 

They nod and wave to him as he stands, before settling back into each other as he moves to his own table. Sehun should probably be sitting on his own seat now, but he finds that he doesn’t want to. 

There’s the subtle feedback of an amp plugging into a guitar, and then the first few chords of You Are In Love by Taylor Swift start, soft and warm. 

“What’s this about?”, Zitao asks then, turning to him, hand sliding to hold Sehun tighter. 

“Nothing,” Sehun says, as Chanyeol starts singing. Zitao’s lap is comfortable, and Sehun isn’t going to be the jealous type. “Nothing at all.”

\---

It’s still kind of dark when Zitao shakes Sehun awake. 

“Sunrise,” he whispers to a bleary eyed Sehun, who wants nothing more than to pull Zitao back into bed and  _ sleep _ . Not that he needs Zitao in bed to do that. That’s just a bonus. 

“Hun-ah,” he says again, louder this time. “One sunrise, and then we can go back to bed? Please?” 

Zitao is asking, so Sehun gives in. 

By the time he emerges from the bathroom after washing his face and brushing his teeth, the huge window by the door shows that the first rays of sun are starting to emerge. 

“No time to go out,” Zitao says, hand wrapping around Sehun’s. He tugs Sehun to the window. 

It’s beautiful. 

Not the sunrise, no. Enough people have written about light dancing on the waves that he doesn’t need to particularly care much about it. Sehun is looking at Zitao, at the way his skin lights up as the sun does, and realises that no amount of writing would be enough to make him tire of this. 

Sehun loves Zitao, and it’s more urgent than ever.

He puts his hand on Zitao’s face, gently urging him to turn, to tear his eyes away from the brilliance of the emerging sun against the sea and look at Sehun. He seems to have an easier time doing it than most would. 

Sehun kisses him. 

Simple, nothing fancy. Sehun kisses him, and Zitao kisses back. His lips are chapped, but that’s okay. It’s always okay. 

They pull away, and Zitao opens his mouth to say something, but then Sehun is pulling him in again, kissing him, and kissing him, and kissing him, softly, gradually building in intensity. 

“Why,” Zitao mumbles, through kisses, as Sehun pulls him closer, till there’s no space left between them at all. “Haven’t we done this before?” 

“I don’t know,” Sehun gasps out, as he pulls away for a second. Then, “I think I’m a little bit in love with you.” 

“I’m an idiot,” Zitao breathes out, as Sehun edges them closer to the bed. “What’s your excuse?” 

Then, as Sehun’s knees hit the edge of the bed, the rumpled bed with messy sheets that they’ve been sharing:

“I think I’m a little bit in love with you too.” 

\---

The sun has completely risen, breaking in through the window, right into Sehun’s eyes. 

Zitao lies next to him, silent, eyes adoring, and unmoving, as if his hands are recovering from Sehun’s skin. 

Sehun loves him. 

And there’s nowhere he’d rather go. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading, and happy birthday to Alu once again!!! i love you all and I hope you have a great day!


End file.
